Friends of the Palo Alto Library Visit our web site 
 
CUBBERLEY
USED BOOK SALES

Saturday September 10
 Ephemera 8am - 4pm
Tent Sale 9am - 4pm
Bargain and Children's Rooms 10 am - 4 pm
Main Room Sale 11am - 4pm

Sunday September 11
 All Rooms Open 11 am - 4pm


FEATURED IN SEPTEMBER 

Religion & Spirituality
Winston Churchill
Home & Crafts - Business
Bargain Books - Children's Books
Science & Math


 

4000 Middlefield Road
Palo Alto
NE corner of the Cubberley Community Center
(650) 213-8755

www.friendspaloaltolib.org

Map
More information on the sales
Donate your old books
 
ALL PROCEEDS GO TO HELP PALO ALTO LIBRARIES

Marty's (Main) Room
In our Main Room, prices are way below what used book stores charge. Hardcover books start at $1.00 and softcover books start at only 50 cents.

Due to the popularity of our sale and the fact that we can only have 160 customers in the room at any time a numbered ticket system (Main Room only) is in place and numbers are given out beginning at 8am on Saturday. Be sure to be in line in order of your number before the 11am opening. If you miss the time when your number is allowed to enter the Main Room you will forfeit your place in line. NOTE: If you plan on arriving to the sale after 11am you do NOT need to get a number.

Please note that due to crowding during the first two hours of the Book Sale, no strollers, rolling carts, etc. can be brought into the Main Room. This is for the safety of shoppers and volunteers alike. By 12:30 or so, the crowd thins out and shoppers are welcome to bring these items into the sale.

Children's Book Sale
The Children's Room has moved to the portable formerly occupied by the Jewish Community Center next to the soccer field. It is entirely filled with children's books and toys. You'll find picture books, school age fiction and non-fiction, award winners, non-English titles, CDs and DVDs, and books for parents and teachers, most for 50 cents or $1. Strollers are welcome in the Children's Room at any time.

Bargain Books in K-7
The Bargain Room is located in Rooms K-7 and K-6 of the Cubberley main campus, right next to the tennis courts. On Saturday, Paperbacks are 50 cents, hardcovers are $1, and children's books are just 25 cents each. The room also contains many LP records and 78s at $1 each. On Sunday, the room opens at 11 am and all prices are half off. Or, save even more on Sunday by buying grocery bags from us for $5 each and stuffing them with any items in the room. Buy 4 bags and get the 5th one FREE!

 
Remodeled Downtown Library Now Open
The newly remodeled Downtown Branch Library is now open regular hours.
 
Non-Profit Book Giveaway
Non-profit organizations, schools and teachers that need FREE books can come to the Bargain Room this month from 4 to 6 pm on Sunday, July 10. Please bring your own grocery bags to put books into. More information.

Suggestions?
We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale. Please email them to us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org or mention them to a volunteer at the sale.

September Sale Notes

The end of summer is normally a strong month for us in terms of donation volume and this year was no exception.... Thanks to a huge gift from St. Patrick's Seminary we'll be featuring books on Religion for the next couple of months. There is material on all facets of religion and spirituality.... As promised in last month's newsletter, we've processed the Winston Churchill collection from former State Sen. Milton Marks. Some featured material will be in the bookcases next to the office, as well as the History aisle.... Our Home and Crafts manager reports a nice selection of books on knitting, quilting and flower arranging this month.... Science and Business sections have a higher than normal volume of books.... Still more Music CDs to choose from as we continue to work through the backlog.... The Children's Room has also been blessed with a large volume of donations and will have a rare outside sale in addition to their normal sale. This special outdoor sale will be Saturday only and all books outside will be priced at 50 cents each and will be available for purchase 1/2 hour before the normal Children's Room opening time of 10am. The regular Children's Room sale will be open both days as usual.

 
Preview Our Shelves

Click here to see some of the shelves at this weekend's sale Check out some of the thousands of books that will be on sale this weekend using our shelf preview pictures.

 
Better Book Bonanza!
September means that it is time for another BETTER BOOK BONANZA! We've accumulated about 500 books and other items for this special sale including a special featured "Music of the 1960s" section of books, music LPs, and Beatles material. These quarterly sales feature some of our more collectible, higher value, fragile, and unusual books that deserve "star" treatment. Not everything is expensive so make plans to check it out!

If you can't make to the sale, we are trying an experiment this month whereby you can make purchases online. The inventory is available using either of the links below, and photos of most of the inventory are viewable using the link above. If you are interested in a particular book simply send an email to booksale9@sonic.net. For internet orders, payment must be made via PayPal, although you don't have to have a PayPal account to make a payment (you can just use your credit card). Shipping charges will be added at our cost unless you wish to pick up your purchase from us in person. Customers shopping in person at our sale will have first priority, so no email orders will be filled until after 1pm on Saturday although you may submit your requests at any time.

Better Book Bonanza Inventory List (PDF)
Better Book Bonanza Inventory List (HTML)

 
Bargain Room Bounty Part Deux
In part due to the high volume of donations this summer, the Bargain Room is so full we're going to have to use the back patio again this month. Bargains galore! And don't forget the Bag Sale on Sunday. Buy a big grocery bag for $5.00 and fill it up with anything in the room, or if you don't want a bag, you can buy and 1/2 off Saturday's already low prices.

 
FOPAL Book Sale Notices Now on Twitter
You can now follow us on Twitter @fopalbooks. We'll post sale notices and will reveal the Sunday 50% off section via our Twitter feed.

 
Bring Your Donations!
Donations are accepted in the Main Room during our normal hours of 2pm - 4pm Tuesday through Saturday. Use the door on the right side of the building, next to the fire lane. If you need to bring books to us outside of those hours just call (650) 213-8755 and see if anyone is working in the book room and can accept your donation. We also accept donations during the Book Sale hours as well. Book and media donations can also be dropped off at the Mitchell Park and Main Libraries (limit of one bag or box per day, please). Note that the new College Terrace Library does not have the space to store donations so they ask that you please do not drop donations off there. Pickups can be arranged for large donations or if you are physically unable to bring your books to us. Please email donations@friendspaloaltolib.org or call (650) 213-8755 for more information or to leave a message after hours.
 
We Need Volunteers!
We are looking for book-loving, community minded folks to work with us. Think about volunteering a few hours a month. We are especially in need of volunteers to help out at our monthly book sales, held on the 2nd weekend of every month. You don't have to be available every month and shifts run 1.5 to 2.5 hours long. Call (650) 213-8755 and leave your contact info or email volunteer@friendspaloaltolib.org for more information.

 
One-Liners
Remember, we do accept donations during the sale - drop off a few and pick up some new ones.... Thank you to all who have brought shipping materials to us!.... If you sell on eBay you can donate a portion of your sale to FOPAL! We're now listed as one of the charities under "eBay Giving Works". Please contact us if you need more information.
 
Recycle Your Used Packing Materials At FOPAL

Looking for a place to recycle those packing materials? FOPAL can use them! As our online sales have grown we would be happy to accept your used bubble mailers, small boxes, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and those bags of air and we'll reuse them. We cannot use large boxes or styrofoam blocks.

 
Think Ecologically! - Bring or Donate Your Own Bags

Due to the increasing reuse of grocery and other bags, we tend to run short at our sales and encourage you to bring your own cloth tote or paper bags to the sale. If you have any extra grocery or department store bags in good condition please bring them for your purchases at the sale. We would also gladly accept any extra bags you wish to donate.

 
Support Palo Alto's Libraries While You Shop
By shopping at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park a percentage of your purchase price can help the Palo Alto Libraries at no cost to you. At Kepler's, just mention to the cashier that you want to support the Friends of the Palo Alto Library.
This notice comes to you from the non-profit organization Friends of the Palo Alto Library. No trees were felled in the making of this e-mail. While the Better Business Bureau recommends that no more than 35% of a charitable organization's expenses be for management and fundraising expenses, ours were under 1% for our 2007-2008 fiscal year. In other words, over 99% of the money we raised went to help Palo Alto Library users. Visit our web site. Become a member by joining online.

Be sure to receive your own free copy of this e-mail notice so that you'll know about all special upcoming books sales. To sign up, just e-mail us. We carefully protect the privacy of your e-mail address. We will not share your e-mail address with any other organization and we will not use it for any purpose other than to send you these notices. If you do not wish to receive these e-mail notices in the future, please reply with the words "Remove Me" in the subject line.